On June 23, the California attorney general released a letter it sent to U.S. Senate leaders urging the removal of a provision in the federal budget reconciliation bill, HR 1 — the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — that would impose a 10-year ban on states from enforcing any law or regulation addressing AI and automated decision-making systems. As previously covered by InfoBytes, the Consortium of Privacy Regulators began formally collaborating in April to coordinate enforcement and share information on privacy law developments. The 10-year ban on states’ ability to enforce AI laws was included in the most recent version of the bill.

The Consortium consisted of a group including the California Privacy Protection Agency and the attorneys general of California, Connecticut, Delaware, New Jersey, Oregon, and Vermont. The Consortium argued the moratorium would strip states of their ability to protect their residents’ privacy rights from AI harms, as well as create a regulatory vacuum which would benefit AI developers and could impact consumers negatively. The letter noted how it would be atypical for Congress to preempt state action in the absence of corresponding federal law.